🚑 Breaking & Incidents
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One person arrested after Spanish Banks targeted shooting. Vancouver Police say they were alerted just before 5 p.m. Saturday to two masked men shooting at an occupied vehicle in a Spanish Banks parking lot along Northwest Marine Drive; police located and arrested one suspect in East Vancouver and reported no victims at the time while the investigation remains ongoing.
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Two separate child safety incidents in Mission prompted Mounties' warning. RCMP in Mission reported a seven-year-old started a house fire on Sept. 18 after connecting a small blow torch to a propane cylinder, and a four-year-old drove a family Cadillac into two parked cars the same day; no injuries were reported and the local fire department attended the blaze.
🏛️ Government & Politics
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Poll shows BC Conservatives ahead of NDP after snap election call. An Angus Reid poll released Thursday found 43 per cent of leaning and decided voters would back the BC Conservatives and 35 per cent the NDP, with 65 per cent of respondents saying Premier David Eby is putting staying in power over the province’s interests.
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BC Conservatives' interim leader Lorne Doerkson to make first campaign policy announcement. Doerkson made his first official campaign appearance days after the election was called; a new poll cited in the report showed Conservative support up six points in 11 days to 43 per cent while the NDP dropped six points to 35 per cent.
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David Eby pledges new tax on unsold condos and higher speculation fees. At a Burnaby campaign stop, Eby said a tax would start at two per cent on finished condo units left empty more than a year and rise by one per cent each additional year, and he cited Real Property Data estimates of thousands of unsold Metro Vancouver units worth $4.4 billion.
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Elenore Sturko becomes leader of CentreBC amid party defections. Sturko said she stayed with CentreBC after seven fellow legislators rejoined the B.C. Conservatives, leaving CentreBC with one MLA and spotlighting the party’s rapid rise and fall in the days after Eby called the early election.
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RCMP watchdog postpones report on B.C. standoff policing because of snap election. The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission delayed releasing its review into policing at a B.C. resource standoff due to the provincial snap election timing, according to the article.
💼 Economy & Business
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Canpotex to invest $500 million in Neptune Bulk Terminals upgrade at North Vancouver. The Saskatchewan-based potash exporter announced a $500 million project to replace and refurbish equipment at the Port of Vancouver’s Neptune terminal, aiming to support shipments of more than 15 million tonnes of Canadian potash delivered by Canpotex annually.
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Starbucks Canada closing multiple B.C. locations as part of 250 North American store closures. Starbucks said it will close stores in B.C. with most last days of operations on Saturday, Sept. 26, as part of a larger plan to close 250 stores across North America while committing to 1,500 store uplifts by fiscal-year end 2026.
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Hundreds of B.C. dump truck drivers convoy to Vancouver over record diesel costs. Drivers began a convoy in Surrey and Abbotsford around 8:30 a.m. Friday and drove to Vancouver to protest diesel prices that hit $2.839 per litre in Vancouver that morning; protesters warned many independent operators will have to pass costs to customers.
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Vancouver company scaling mycelium to reduce meat costs. The article profiles a Vancouver firm farming fungal mycelium as an ingredient to lower reliance on beef and to create cheaper protein alternatives, citing the company’s use of mycelium in product development and its pitch to combat rising meat costs.
🎨 Community & Culture
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Sikh humanitarian group distributes back-to-school supplies to Indigenous students. The Sikh group provided school supplies to Indigenous students ahead of the school year to support families, according to the report describing the charity’s local outreach in British Columbia communities.
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Ts’msyen cookbook aims to shift North Coast culinary labels with local sockeye recipes. A new Ts’msyen cookbook reworks traditional North Coast recipes and explicitly challenges what the authors call “sockeye snobbery,” showcasing Indigenous culinary practices from the region.
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Tropical pawpaw fruit grows in Canada and is drawing attention in B.C. gardens. The article explores the pawpaw, nicknamed an ‘alien banana,’ noting it can be cultivated in parts of Canada and profiling growers in British Columbia who are experimenting with the fruit.
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Six decades of Treaty 8 documents repatriated to Dane-zaa people in northern B.C. The report documents the return of Treaty 8 historical materials to the Dane-zaa, describing the repatriation as covering documents and artifacts spanning 60 years.
🚨 Crime & Public Safety
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North Vancouver man given 18-month conditional discharge for impersonating RCMP. Wayne Peter Church, 59, pleaded guilty to impersonating a peace officer after equipping his pickup with emergency lights between Jan. 1 and March 1, 2025; Crown and defence jointly recommended an 18-month conditional discharge and the judge accepted the submission.
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Nine Islamic schools across Canada placed on high alert after emailed threats. The Muslim Association of Canada said nine of its schools in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec received an anonymous letter signed “Citizen Vigilante” threatening a “slaughter” of Muslims; local police forces and Peel Region hate-crime investigators increased patrols.
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Convicted child killer Shane Ertmoed granted 60-day unescorted temporary absence for cooking classes. Ertmoed, serving a life sentence for the 2002 sexual assault and killing of 10-year-old Heather Thomas, was granted a 60-day unescorted leave to attend cooking classes while living in a community residential facility under 24-hour supervision.
🏈 Sports
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Canucks enter rebuild with new coach Manny Malhotra and fresh metrics of success. After finishing last in the NHL last season, Vancouver’s roster opened training camp in Penticton under coach Malhotra, who emphasized intensity, system play and puck battles rather than immediate wins; the Canucks open the season in Edmonton against the Oilers next Tuesday.
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Vancouver claims goaltender Leevi Merilainen off waivers from Ottawa. The 24-year-old Finn appeared in 20 games for the Senators last season and posted an 8-10-1 record with a 3.51 GAA and .860 save percentage; Merilainen has 34 NHL games in his career and was drafted 71st overall in 2020.
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NHL expands to 84 games and the regular season opens next week with key Canadian matchups. The league's 1,344-game regular-season schedule has each team playing 84 games for the first time since 1993-94, with Vancouver's early-season dates highlighted as part of the broader calendar changes.
🌦️ Weather & Roads
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Record-breaking owl migration strains bird-banding teams in northern B.C. Bird banders in northern B.C. reported a record movement of owls that has left teams scrambling to process the unusually high numbers during migration season.
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As wildfire season winds down, B.C. communities begin rebuilding. The report details multiple communities across B.C. starting reconstruction and recovery efforts as the province moves past peak wildfire activity this season.
